A few years ago I was able to rescue a small letterpress studio - which caused a little bit of a problem with where to put it in our tiny cottage. The type cases ended up stacked up various walls and the printers are safely wrapped and stashed in my kind neighbour's stone shed, all waiting for the day when we move somewhere bigger and I have more space.
Anyhow, I was cleaning the spider webs from our front bay window and was idly looking through some type chests when I found an undiscovered stash of decorative flourishes.
Aren't they lovely? And I didn't even know I had them!
Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteWhat a treasure! I hope you find a place soon so you can really play... ; )
Lotus
Oh the possibilities!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful treasure.
ReplyDeleteOhhhohooh, so pretty. *drool*
ReplyDeleteI am so envious.... you are so lucky... what beautiful flourishes...
ReplyDeleteSue Xxx
anticipating what you come up with! btw, my grandmother was a "printer's devil" when she was young. My great-grandfather has a small press, long gone, alas
ReplyDeleteHey Gretel,
ReplyDeleteDon't you just love creative surprises??
Janet xox
WOw, how much fun are you going to have playing with those Gretel?.............
ReplyDeleteI remember playing scrabble maaaaaany years ago and someone put down 'EM'..........Everyone said 'what the heck is that?'
Answer - a printing measure and I've never forgotten it. Handy little piece of trivia to have up your sleeve.
Have a fab weekend,
Claire :}
Gretel, I very much like your discovery and hope that you might get some ink on to some of those flourishes just to see what they might offer.
ReplyDeleteLazy bones that I am when it comes to house cleaning, I have to admit that I know that doing any dusting around here is never going to lead to discovering any treasure. Well, perhaps clear, cleaner surfaces might be considered treasure?
xo
How lucky you are :) I've one of those boxes but empty of its original content. I've filled it with small things and its now a coffee table (except I hate coffee so I will have to call it something else).
ReplyDeleteviv in nz
What a joyful post!
ReplyDeleteThis is so thrilling just to know you have them
and ponder the possibilities!
wonderful! they found a treasure! great weekend.
ReplyDeletethis is cool!
ReplyDeleteI was cleaning spider webs yesterday too, and all I found were a lot of dead bugs.
ReplyDeleteBut I love these! I have been collecting old printing sets for many years ( none are this cool) but my earliest ones are from the late 1800's in their original boxes. I am always wondering how to put those little letters and designs back to work.
A little co-incidence ..... this morning we saw a tall oak cabinet that contained drawers that would have held printers' typeface ...... it was actually a bargain at £295, as it was mostly solid oak!
ReplyDeleteWhat a discovery! I'm intrugued to see what you'll do with this treasure one day... Such a thing can't happen in a new house or apartament. I know it, because from time to time I find interesting "relics" in my parents' place!...
ReplyDeleteI wrote a comment to the post about Wales, too.:-)
What an intriguing find, and how it relates to life in general. Most of us have hidden flourishes, (talents, abilities, interests) that we're not using, just waiting for discovery and the time and space to put them to use.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it seems as though the precious hidden tiny things are the best and unused parts of us, just hidden by the dust of every day life. I can't wait to see what clever use you find for these little gems.
How could you not know you had these beauties?! Looking forward to seeing some resulting creativity from them ... Mxx
ReplyDeleteToo gorgeous, what a thrilling find. I would love to come and play with these.
ReplyDeletei've had stuff in boxes for over a year (we moved and are remodeling) and have had several of these aha moments..running across my own stuff. it's both delightful and a little embarrassing.
ReplyDeletethanks for making me a contact on flickr...i'm so happy to discover your work!!
My gosh - your whole blog has changed since I was last in the blogosphere ... I hope your well Gretel - I seriously need to get back on the crafting bandwagon! Your cupcake header make me want to try felting again for sure ... or just sit down and eat cakes ... perhaps both ;-)
ReplyDeleteGreat pict...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.alexiev.com.ar
Proyectos - Illustrations
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I'm very, very jealous! All that lovely type...The only things people seem to clear out where I live are cracked canning jars and plastic flowers from the 1970s. :)
ReplyDeleteThat is wonderful, such a pleasant surprise-reward for housekeeping! :-) I remember when you wrote about the letterpress studio. Such a treasure!
ReplyDelete